JOB

From here on out, I will refer to jumping off bridges as JOB. It's easier to type. Have I mentioned how much this project makes me happy? Oh man.

I signed my friend Daniel Gill on to be music supervisor. We went to high school and college together in Florida. We also worked at the same college radio station, V89. He's now the Vice President of a Indie Music PR Company called, Fanatic Promotions. We share a love for a lot of the same music. I trust him. Plus,he knows lots and lots of people in the business. Hopefully that will make life easier when we try to get the Eric's Trip song and Clinic song I've always wanted in the film.

Roberta screens tonight!!!

Miss Roberta Wells makes her Austin broadcast debut tonight on KLRU at 10pm. She's been seen in households in Dallas and Houston so far. San Antonio and a few other Texas towns should receive a visit from her soon.

I'm busy, I'm busy!

In a good way. The kind of busy that keeps me smiling.

Three of my shorts got rejected by SXSW. I think that might be a record for me. But I don't care.

I'm making jumping off bridges this summer! Nothing else matters. All of the pieces to the project are being assembled. Things are falling into place. I'm meeting some super nice people and reconnecting with folks I haven't talked to in a while. Lots and lots of meetings. Our film is going to kick some serious ass!

It's ok, Mandy. I forgive you.

I got hit in the head pretty hard with a metal watch the other night. My friend was throwing it across the room and aimed a little too high. Put a tiny gash on my forehead. It wouldn't stop bleeding. Luckily I have bangs.

Bic pens, Binder Clips and Banker boxes.

I love lists. I love graphs. I love charts. I love spreadsheets, power point presentations and every other organizational tool known to man. I like putting things in boxes. I like check marks and highlighting important lines of text. I like making reminders on my calendar to check each list of "Things to Do" for each project. I'm a sucker for desk accessories, files, folders and neat little drawer organizers.

Is it so wrong to love details? Is it so wrong to crave the taste of meetings and agendas and spreadsheets? I keep my life in a neat little folder. It's spread out over an "At A Glance" calendar. It's tacked delicately to a pegboard in my office. I don't know why, but I like it that way. Poor Mark. He had no idea what he was getting into.

Roberta on PBS

Roberta Wells will screen on Austin's PBS station KLRU on Friday, January 28th at 10pm. It's been playing on the PBS program The Territory all over Texas since December. It's kinda cool.

Don't you know baby, yeah, yeah ...

I remember when I was seven or eight, I used to sit alone in the playground behind my apartment complex. It had a Wizard of Oz theme. The swingset was the Tin Man, the jungle gym was the Cowardly Lion and I can't remember what Dorothy and the Scarecrow were. Maybe the slide? I would sit in the dirt in my mud-stained shorts and t-shirt and dig a hole to China. Not much to think about besides whether or not I could really do it. I could sit there for hours on end and be perfectly happy.

Martin Starr

I want Martin Starr from Freaks and Geeks in my next movie. The kid is genius! In all sincerity.

jumping off bridges

We're going to shoot jumping off bridges this summer. We're going to shoot jumping off bridges this summer. I'm about to burst from excitement!!!

Drama

There are moments where I just wish the drama would end. There, I said it.

Growing up

Two days away from shooting my next short. I'm ready. I'm really ready. I love the few days before. The anticipation, the preparation. And I LOVE being on set. I LOVE IT!

I'm almost finished with the script for the one after this. It's gonna be good! Sturge might shoot it. I'm trying new things. Branching out. Jim and I have always been a team. He's been my DP on everything I've ever done. I trust him. We work really well together. The boy's fucking awesome. But, this year, I'm living on the edge. I'm working with different people in different capacities. It's cool. I'm growing. I like growing.

Bootyrama

Bootyrama Class
An Intense Funk & Fitness class designed to raise your cardio-fitness, while stimulating your body & mind with easy-to-do dance moves.

Karen, Nisha, Debbie and I took our first Bootyrama class last night. Oh man. So, I'm a runner. I'm used to running 5 miles or so, no problem. Heck, I've run 14 miles ... no problem. I have to say, Bootyrama is like running two Iron Man marathons back to back. My legs were like jelly, shaking and quivering. My heart was pounding, sweat pouring off in buckets.

Our instructor, Chemise, a bootylicious young black girl kept running around the room all crazy-like barking orders, "Go lower!", "Stick your butt out!", "Five more" while Usher kept screaming "Yeah" from the boombox. Maybe I've never been to an aerobics class before and I'm just not used to the insanity of it all. I don't know, but she was making me a little nervous. I thought she might get very upset with me if I didn't get that last push up. The pain was hard. Abs, thighs, butt, arms ... she must have had us do over a hundred push ups.

After the "cardio" portion of the class, Chemise taught us some hip hop dance moves. It is, of course, a fitness AND funk class. She told us that she would slow it down and make it easy for us. I felt like I was back in middle school trying to learn that dance routine to Run DMC's "Tricky" for cheerleading try outs. I looked like such a dork. Here's this little white girl trying to show "attitude" while bopping around to Sierra (some new, hot singer that Chemise just assumed we'd all heard of). It was fun though. During and immediately after the class I swore I'd never step foot back in Bootyrama class. Come hell or high water, I was not going to do it. Now I'm having second thoughts. Maybe I will go back. Maybe I will try to have more "attitude". Maybe I will learn how to shake my ass and twist my hips like Shakira. Maybe I can be bootylicious too.

Scott Bate

This week, Lorie's in the midst of dress rehearsals for her play, Square One, that opens on Friday. It stars one of my all time favorite people ever, Scott Bate. Scott co-produced, cicadas, with me and has been a great friend for many years. He starred in my short film, Walter Lehman and had a minor role in Roberta Wells. I could spend a million words trying to describe what a wonderful human being Scott Bate is, but even that wouldn't do him justice. He's one of the few people that's like home to me.

Taco Bell and 7 Eleven

I discovered on Saturday when I went to the bank to check on my account that the thieves who stole my bag made a few charges to my debit card.

1. $22.73 - Taco Bell
2. $41.58 - 7 Eleven

Typical.

"You're a loser, Timothy Brown"

That's the name of my new short. We're scheduled to shoot next Saturday. A skeleton crew of me, Sturge, Richard and Stacy. It's a bittersweet little piece. Maybe 3 minutes long. If that. It's all about the heartache.

I have my next short picked out. I need to put together the script. It's a story that my Uncle Frank shared with me over the holidays. It's sort of in the vein of "A Christmas Story". It's my first comedic short since the one I did in 1998 about a guy who loses his goldfish and freaks out. Speaking of which, I have no idea what happened to that film. That's kind of a bummer.

$250 since Tuesday and my life is back in order. Some teenager called me the other night because she said I called her. "It was your number", she said. I said, "nope, not me." She asked if maybe I knew Donovan or Brandy and that was why I was calling. "Nope, not me." "Are you lying to me?" She asked me that. I'm sure it was one of the kids that stole my bag who called her. I'm sure I could do some crazy detective work to figure out who the kids were, but I don't care so much anymore.

Eighteen Bucks and a $10 Regal Cinema Gift Card

Tuesday night I went to the gym. I did my hour on the stationary bike while I read up on Britney Spears' latest antics and why Jennifer and Brad are headed for splitsville. When I was ready to leave and headed for my car, I noticed my passenger window was busted, glass was everywhere. My bag, gone. Now, I realize that I shouldn't have brought my bag with me to the gym, much less have left it in the car. Stupid, stupid, stupid. And usually, I never do. BUT I was going to Central Market afterwards to treat myself to a cup of Mango Passion Granola. I have an addiction. I eat a cup of Mango Passion Granola every single day (literally). It's a problem, I know. I had a cup for lunch today. Anyhow, I didn't feel like bringing my whole bag into the gym so I left it on the floor of my car. I immediately called the police, cancelled all of my credit cards, cancelled my bank accout ...

Later in the night, I called my cell phone (which was in my bag). They answered. Those rat bastards answered my cell phone. They didn't say anything as I kept blurting out, "hello, hello, hello?". Between me and Mark, we must have called the cell phone about four or five times, all of which they picked up and said nothing. Mark said it sounded like they just put the phone on the table and went on with their business. We heard children, a woman, garbled conversation ... like a family. Strangely enough, it made me pretty sad. I only had $18 and a $10 Regal Cinema Gift Card in my wallet (besides my credit cards and ID cards). But I suppose maybe they needed the eighteen bucks more than I did. That's what I keep telling myself at least.

Bringing in the New Year

Highlights from my holiday vacation:

Snowfall in Houston on Christmas Eve.

Sledding through the iced over parking lot of the Homewood Suites in Memphis.

Bashing Hollywood over BBQ with my cousin Julia.

Tickling my nephews' bellies.

Mark's excitment when he opened the "Fanny and Alexander" box set I got him for Christmas.

Oatmeal cookie Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.

New Year's Eve dinner with Nevie, Nisha, Karen and Mark. Our table was sandwiched between a woman crying and yelling at her ex husband and Andy Roddick, Andy Roddick's father and their blond bombshell dates.

Trying on crazy, fancy dresses at Nordstrom's with Karen and Nisha.

Peanut butter pie with chocolate malt ball ice cream.

My nephew Christian falling asleep in my arms.

"The Life Aquatic".

Two trips to Dreamers. One purchase.

Coming home to Austin and remembering how much I love my life and my friends.